ITEC2360

Overview MyHistro is a multifaceted site. It's main purpose is to aid history teaching by providing interactive maps that display the locations of historical events. It also is trying to jump on the social networking bandwagon by allowing users to create their own timelines with maps of their own lives. It also does the same for businesses. For educational uses, this site can be used for middle school students and above. For middle school students, some discretion needs to be used when choosing which parts of the site to use. It might be a good idea for the teacher to operate the site on a projector. For networking uses, I would recommend that only adults use this site and even then with discretion as by doing so you put your personal information out there. My initial impressions were that this site is very professional and has a ton of content to explore. It is a site that is very engaging for both educational and other uses and could really be a good motivator for kids.

Art 21 is a site dedicated to informing the public about contemporary art of the 21st Century. Providing video of today's Artists at work, in their studio, and behind their thoughts and inspiration of their work. Depending on what medium the viewer is most interested in you can search by a multitude of processes such as Installation, Sculpture, painting, mixed media and more. Or you can watch videos by season all throughout this site. This content educates the audience beyond the borders of their own understanding of art and answers the difficult questions viewers develop when viewing contemporary art. I believe this site is very efficient at educating the public about art. There is a surplus of artists on this site that everyone is sure to find one they can connect to. The videos are engaging and attention catching. All you have to do is press play, and let the learning begin.

Museum of Web Art is a site intended to give the public an alternative experience to viewing art. However this site is inadequate because it becomes a maze of links in which all roads dead-end to unavailable images. There is no immediate knowledge of the sponsor or of review dates. The site itself seems to be an abandoned ship, a "ghost-site" if you will. This site comes off as unreliable and inaccurate. I suggest staying away from this site and go visit a local gallery or museum instead. It'll be a lot less confusing and you'll actually become exposed to art.

Overview The purpose of this website is to help parents learn about ASL and sign language with their infants and toddlers. The website also talks about the advantages of teaching your infant/toddler sign language so that they can communicate clearly what they want so that there is no confusion on what they want. Content The content is awesome on this site, it is all up to date, easy to navigate, appeals to the viewer's eye, etc. The information on this website is all completely informational and non-bias. There are other links for help for other needs on for instance how to do a particular sign in ASL for your child. So overall the content of this website is great. Design The design is also very great on this website. The speed is excellent and works very quickly with any browser, it is very easy to navigate, and there is not any use of videos on the website however the use of the images are used appropriately. The currency is also up to date.

Overview The overview of this website is excellent for different skills on how to build up your child's self-esteem whether they are in preschool or are a toddler. It also goes through of how to clearly identify if your child has an issues with their self-esteem, so you aren't going in the wrong direction with what you may think is the issue. Content The content for the website is used efficiently, and also very effectively. The language is easy to understand is clearly laid out in bullet points. The first look at the website is very well to the viewer, the information of where all of the information came from is easy to access, etc. It is an informational type of website. Design The design is excellent as well. It is easy to navigate throughout the page for what you are looking for, and also it is easy to navigate to other pages that are related to the topic of toddlers and preschoolers with their self-esteem. There is not many pictures nor is there videos but it still is a helpful website.

Overview: This website is to help students review mathematical curriculum. The purpose is to have students challenge themselves by moving forward in math and work more on the certain math subject they needed more help with. The intended audience is students of all ages. This site has a lot of different math subjects that a student can work on. I believe that this website is beneficial, but nothing that you can let your students be able to explore on their own. Design: I do not think that the overall design of this website is very clear and organized. It is hard to read the links of what subject they can study. Also the pictures can be very confusing to students. The website is very colorful, which can either be appealing or confusing for a student. Content: The content I chose to study on this website is math. You can also go back to the homepage and study/practice other subjects if needed. There are plenty of games available and different videos the students can watch. This website does navigate well to the different contents. The purpose of this website is to study different math curriculum and use it for more practice.

Overview: The purpose of this website is to help teachers and parents teach students math, especially if they are being home schooled. The audience of this website is more of parents and teachers rather than students. Although there are some activities that students can practice. This would not be a very attractive site for just students, but it does have some very useful lessons and worksheets that teachers can use. Design: The design of the website is very organized. It is easy to navigate around and find the certain lesson plans and worksheets you can work off of. This is not a website for students to navigate through because it is more of a teacher site than students in the sense of activities. Content: The content contains information of how to teach students math. It is easy to get a hold of the creator of the website. She also provides very useful information about herself and what she has achieved in her math education.

Overview: This website is about different subjects in math. The audience is for students of all ages. It is a little more difficult to navigate in, so you may need to assist your students. This website would be very useful for students to practice and challenge themselves. Design: Like I said before it is not the easiest site to navigate around on for students. And it is not the most attractive site. But it has very useful activities and has very clear directions to help students understand the specific math subject they need more help on. Content: This website has a lot of math content. The point of this website is to help students of all ages get extra practice on their math subject they are currently studying. The content is very useful and will help students in many ways. There are also some free ideas for teachers to use in their classrooms, such as worksheets and videos.

Overview Code Academy is a website that is used to promote the proper teaching of different computer languages to people of all ages. It is mostly aimed at people who are in computer science classes from middle school through college. The site has a number of corporate sponsors as well as many 'teachers' that donate their time to creating lesson plans for this site. They really advocate the teaching and learning of these computer languages. For being programmers, the site is actually fairly simple and had some glitches on my computer. I will attribute that as much to the computer as much as their programming.

Overview Garbology is an interactive online game that is designed for educators to use with their kids to learn about waste. I think this game would be best used with kids that are in upper elementary or middle school but you could expand that age range. It is intended to increase awareness of garbage, recycling, composting, and nature conservancy. This website is well designed and easy to operate. It is clear that they have a lot of resources put into this site.

Overview The purpose of the Birmingham Grid for Learning site about Life Cycles is intended to provide an interactive introduction to the topic of life cycles. Life cycles are a key component in Biology and it is very important that each student understands them. The intended audience for the site is roughly middle school aged science students. My overall impression of the site is that it is very basic, and has a limited amount of information on it. It can be an ok resource at introducing the topic of life cycles, but should not be used in going into great detail of the topic itself. Content The content of this site would be good for younger students in the field of science. It is good for students to use to augment prior learning of life cycles as well as not going into great detail of life cycles. The website is good for younger secondary students due to the fact that it uses interactive lessons on the life cycles of frogs and butterflies. I would personally only use this site on a minimum basis, not more than half of a class period due to the limited information contained within. Design I thought that the design of the website was very useful, as well as easy to navigate. It had clear instructions as well as easy links to follow. It could be used very easily with little to no trouble learning how to navigate it.

The purpose of the wiley.com website is to have an interactive educational use about the cell structure of different types of cells. The audience for this site should be older students in science programs, high school age or older. Content The cell structure and being able to compare structures of different types of cells are very important to education of science students. I thought that this site had very good interaction as well as very intelligent and useful information for students. The site would be good to use with students who have a basic knowledge of the cell structures and are looking to enhance their knowledge and review it as well. This would be a good resource in a classroom setting with lots of applications possible from it. Design The design of this website was very easy to use. It had very clear instructions as well as easy to find help sites if you got stuck. The design of this site was helpful to being able to learn about all of the cell structures.

The purpose of this site is to interactively be able to learn and create a food web. The specific audience of this site is students around a middle or elementary level. I thought that it was a good website to use interactive learning techniques to learn and review the dynamics of food web interactions. This site is a good introductory level basis for learning about food webs and how different organisms interact with each other. Content It could be a good site to use as a whole class as a supplement to the lesson and have the kids tell you where to put the different organisms and how to link them together. I would hesitate to make this site an activity in class outside of using it to augment the original lesson. Design The design of this site was very simple as well as easy to use. The people that set it up did a good job of making this site accessible to anyone. It had good help menus that would help you navigate the site with ease if you ever got tripped up trying to use the site.

Overview This website allows students to have fun games to help them learn math in different subject areas. It allows for easy access to the games and there links so students can practice their skills, so they can be better equipped for their math class. It is easy to access this website through any internet browser. The website is well designed and very well organized. Content There is a lot of information based on the different subjects in math and the skills required to complete that subject. Students can find interactive games for different subjects in math. The links to the games and other websites are very easy to access off of the main websites. The purpose of this website can be entertainment and informational to students. For students and teachers to give students practice it is worth bookmarking for both audiences and is useful to point out to students in order to get more practice in math. Design The design of this website is easy to use and navigate around. The pages are appealing to the eye and are not over crowed or overwhelming. There are directions on how to use the site that are easy to understand and know how to use the group. The links to other games and pages are up to date and are provided to make sure it is easy access. The site works on any internet browser which makes the access easier through many different access points for students at school or at home.

Overview Kid Sites is a website that is informational and entertainment wise for students in math courses that allow students to help them practice their math skills in the subject area they are in. This website is geared to all students or parents of students. It gives other websites to practice or help them learn math that are up to date. It is easy to access and worth students going to in order for practice. Content The purpose of the website is for students to have information about other math websites and has an entertainment purpose due to the fact that it gives websites to practice math skills. The content is well organized and complete because there is nothing that gives an error in the links. The website is useable for teachers to give to students to practice and find out more information about the subject area they are studying. It is worth bookmarking and given to students for practice and extra information. Design The design of the website is very organized and not overwhelming or distracting to users. It is easy to use and follow. All the websites given are up to date and allow easy access to these websites with extra practice and information about different math subjects. It works with any internet browser so it is easy access for students to access it at any other places than just school and allows for use for more practice if students do struggle.

Justin Sanchez Reviewed 10-21-13 www.canaryzoo.com Purpose: The purpose of the site is to provide biology related information through facts, games, and other entertainment. Intended audience: This site is mostly intended for high school students. Available resources: Links are available, but they are not biology related. Overview: The best part of the website is the biology games. They are very education and are trivia based games. There are also some biology jokes and facts that are entertaining. The website is a little busy, making it a little hard to navigate to where you want to go. Content: In the biology games section, the content is good. Some of the other sections are not so biology related. Design: The design of the website is a little too busy. There are a lot of links to different stuff that seem a little unrelated. The website does download fast and movement between the pages is quick.

Jessica Lee 10/21/2013 Overview: Simply put, the purpose of this site is to offer students answers to their math problems. This site is designed for middle school through high school students and lower level college classes. This is a decent site if answers to basic number problems are all you are looking for; otherwise, there are better websites to use. However, if you are willing to purchase the monthly subscription, it also provides the steps it took to answer the problem. A nice but unnoticed feature this website has to offer is a link to their YouTube page that lists many videos on how to better input their question to receive the answer you are trying to get. Content: The content of this website is very straightforward - whatever you input, it will output an answer. They offer a variety of answers to a single question but fail to tell you how to solve it (unless you are a paying member). Therefore, it is mainly used as a way to either cheat or check answers. In addition to the problem-solving component, they also have worksheets you can create and a glossary of mathematical terms. Design: Although the content is limited, the layout is very professional and easy to navigate - a first-time user would know what to do to be able to utilize the website. Its simplicity is its strength, allowing it to not need any provided instruction. In addition, everything is easy to locate and information is easy to find.

Jessica Lee 10/21/2013 Overview: The purpose of this site is to address some common core standards for mathematics in a different, fun way with the use of animations and online games. This website is intended for middle school aged students. There are not any external links for additional resources included. I am very impressed with this website due to its overall design and organization as well as the content-rich materials that they promote. It also provides a learner guide for the teacher to use in the classroom which makes it very convenient. Content: The content of this website is very easy to read and understand for the intended audience. It not only provides fun activities for the kids to enjoy, but also an explanation for each one for what it addresses. It presents math concepts in a new way that will attract "math-haters." Design: The design of this website is aesthetically appealing and easy to navigate. Everything runs smoothly and quickly and all of the internal links work well. The pictures representing the animations and games are significant and attention-grabbing. The only negative thing about this website is the lack of a revision date; therefore, there is no way to know, immediately, that it has been kept up-to-date.

Paige Hanewald 10/21/13 Overall: The purpose of this site is to expand the vocabulary for all ages between middle school students and adults. This site contains not only an accurate dictionary, but competitive and interactive assessments of vocabulary knowledge, specific vocabulary lists, and interesting blogs that pertain to the use of strange words, their origins, and other relating topics. Overall, I think this site could potentially be useful to anyone who wants to expand their vocabulary knowledge, especially students. Content: The content has several organized features that offer what I had mentioned before: dictionary definitions, vocabulary lists and blogs that are updated frequently, and "quizzes". The website adapts the words according to your increasing level of vocabulary proficiency so you are always challenged. Contributors of the blogs are employees of Thinkmap, the sponsor of the website, and usually include a short biography expressing their qualifications to the site. Design: The design of the website makes it easy to navigate. There are tabs for every feature, including contact information. The links to other pages are helpful and engaging and have no issues.